Ethnobotanical knowledge is associated with indices of child health in the Bolivian Amazon

McDade, Thomas W.; Reyes‐García, Victoria; Blackinton, P.; Tanner, Susan; Huanca, Tomás; Leonard, William R.

doi:10.1073/pnas.0609123104

Cited by 165 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The experimental and flexible approach revealed here is especially intriguing given the importance of traditional medicine for healthcare, and previous research showing that functional cultural characters are conserved [17,48]. However, the role of traditional medicinal knowledge is to contribute to the fitness of human populations in different environments through healthcare [49]. As availability of resources varies among environments, medicinal floras need to be adapted to local environments in order to respond to healthcare needs [21,23,50].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of traditional knowledge: environment shapes medicinal plant use in Nepal

et al. 2014

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Traditional knowledge is influenced by ancestry, inter-cultural diffusion and interaction with the natural environment. It is problematic to assess the contributions of these influences independently because closely related ethnic groups may also be geographically close, exposed to similar environments and able to exchange knowledge readily. Medicinal plant use is one of the most important components of traditional knowledge, since plants provide healthcare for up to 80% of the world's population. Here, we assess the significance of ancestry, geographical proximity of cultures and the environment in determining medicinal plant use for 12 ethnic groups in Nepal. Incorporating phylogenetic information to account for plant evolutionary relatedness, we calculate pairwise distances that describe differences in the ethnic groups' medicinal floras and floristic environments. We also determine linguistic relatedness and geographical separation for all pairs of ethnic groups. We show that medicinal uses are most similar when cultures are found in similar floristic environments. The correlation between medicinal flora and floristic environment was positive and strongly significant, in contrast to the effects of shared ancestry and geographical proximity. These findings demonstrate the importance of adaptation to local environments, even at small spatial scale, in shaping traditional knowledge during human cultural evolution.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of traditional knowledge: environment shapes medicinal plant use in Nepal

et al. 2014

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“…Particularly as traditional medicine practices and knowledge are eroded (41,42), there is a pressing need for ethnobotanical fieldwork to complete inventories. Traditional knowledge enhances health worldwide and is considered crucial in preventing the deterioration of local healthcare (43). As new research initiatives demonstrate the revived interest in traditional knowledge (44)(45)(46), we show that disentangling the tree of life and novel methods of analysis can help better use the natural world in the future.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenies reveal predictive power of traditional medicine in bioprospecting

Saslis‐Lagoudakis

Savolainen

Williamson

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

221

191

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There is controversy about whether traditional medicine can guide drug discovery, and investment in bioprospecting informed by ethnobotanical data has fluctuated. One view is that traditionally used medicinal plants are not necessarily efficacious and there are no robust methods for distinguishing those which are most likely to be bioactive when selecting species for further testing. Here, we reconstruct a genus-level molecular phylogenetic tree representing the 20,000 species found in the floras of three disparate biodiversity hotspots: Nepal, New Zealand, and the Cape of South Africa. Borrowing phylogenetic methods from community ecology, we reveal significant clustering of the 1,500 traditionally used species, and provide a direct measure of the relatedness of the three medicinal floras. We demonstrate shared phylogenetic patterns across the floras: related plants from these regions are used to treat medical conditions in the same therapeutic areas. This finding strongly indicates independent discovery of plant efficacy, an interpretation corroborated by the presence of a significantly greater proportion of known bioactive species in these plant groups than in random samples. We conclude that phylogenetic cross-cultural comparisons can focus screening efforts on a subset of traditionally used plants that are richer in bioactive compounds, and could revitalize the use of traditional knowledge in bioprospecting.ethnobotany | ethnopharmacology | herbal medicine | phylogeny | systematics M any pharmaceutical drugs are derived from plants that were first used in traditional systems of medicine (1), and according to the World Health Organization ∼25% of medicines are plant-derived (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/ fs134). Discoveries of novel molecules and advances in production of plant-based products (2, 3) have revived interest in natural product research. Traditional knowledge has proven a useful tool in the search for new plant-based medicines (4-8). The number of traditionally used plant species worldwide is estimated to be between 10,000 and 53,000 (9, 10); however, only a small proportion have been screened for biological activity (11,12) and the plants from some regions are less studied than others. For example, only 1% of tropical floras have been investigated (12). Moreover, there has been no systematic study to determine whether traditionally used species are significantly more likely to yield valuable bioactive compounds. This lack of data creates controversy about whether traditional medicine can guide drug discovery (1,11,(13)(14)(15), and investment in ethnobotanically led bioprospecting has fluctuated (5, 14, 15). Methods put forward for distinguishing those plants most likely to be bioactive when selecting species for further testing have been criticized, and criteria proposed to prioritize traditionally used species have not been rigorously tested (16,17). For example, use of the same or related plants by people from different regions and cultures provides indirect evidence for bioactiv...

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“…Understanding local uses of plants has social and public health implications (McDade et al, 2007; Reyes- García et al, 2008). Documenting the extent of reliance on medicinal plants is important because loss of local knowledge of medicinal plants challenges developing countries' health care systems (Quinlan and Quinlan, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ethnomedicinal survey of a Tashelhit-speaking community in the High Atlas, Morocco

Teixidor‐Toneu

Martin²,

Ouhammou

et al. 2016

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

125

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ethnomedicinal survey of a Tashelhitspeaking community in the High Atlas, Morocco, Journal of Ethnopharmacology, http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.jep.2016.05.009 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting galley proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. ABSTRACT Ethnopharmacological relevanceTraditional knowledge about medicinal plants from a poorly studied region, the High Atlas in Morocco, is reported here for the first time; this permits consideration of efficacy and safety of current practices whilst highlighting species previously not known to have traditional medicinal use. Aim of the studyOur study aims to document local medicinal plant knowledge among Tashelhit speaking communities through ethnobotanical survey, identifying preferred species and new medicinal plant citations and illuminating the relationship between emic and etic ailment classifications. Materials and methodsEthnobotanical data were collected using standard methods and with prior informed consent obtained before all interactions, data were characterized using descriptive indices and medicinal plants and healing strategies relevant to local livelihoods were identified.Results 151 vernacular names corresponding to 159 botanical species were found to be used to treat 36 folk ailments grouped in 14 biomedical use categories. Thirty-five (22%) are new medicinal plant records in Morocco, and 26 described as used for the first time anywhere. Fidelity levels (FL) revealed low specificity in plant use, particularly for the most commonly reported plants. Most plants are used in mixtures. Plant use is driven by local concepts of disease, including "hot" and "cold" classification and beliefs in supernatural forces. 2 ConclusionLocal medicinal plant knowledge is rich in the High Atlas, where local populations still rely on medicinal plants for healthcare. We found experimental evidence of safe and effective use of medicinal plants in the High Atlas; but we highlight the use of eight poisonous species.

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Ethnobotanical knowledge is associated with indices of child health in the Bolivian Amazon

Cited by 165 publications

References 28 publications

The evolution of traditional knowledge: environment shapes medicinal plant use in Nepal

The evolution of traditional knowledge: environment shapes medicinal plant use in Nepal

Phylogenies reveal predictive power of traditional medicine in bioprospecting

An ethnomedicinal survey of a Tashelhit-speaking community in the High Atlas, Morocco

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